Numerical Prediction of Vortex Generated by Hydrofoil

The purpose of the project described in this paper is to develop and validate a Computational Fluid Dynamics method especially suited for prediction of concentrated vortices behind marine propeller blades. Further objective is to use this method for prediction of the tip vortex cavitation, which is a source of intensive hydro-acoustic signal and should be avoided as far as possible during propeller design. Numerical prediction of the vortex generated by the propeller-like hydrofoil is presented in the paper. Simulations have been performed with Fluent 6.3. The influence of the different turbulence models on the streamwise vortex intensity and location is analysed. Numerical results are compared with experimental data obtained in the cavitation tunnel of Ship Design and Research Centre CTO in Gdansk. Measurements enable to make the comparison of the global forces acting on the foil and comparison of the two velocity components (LDA) at the selected sections downstream of the foil